The Space Cases, The Misfits
by The Space Cases
Summary: Multi-character POV of a "normal" day on the Christa :-)
1. Authors' Note

What and Who We Are:  
  
We are The Space Cases. We are eight clever dedicated SC fans whose brains flung through a weird hole in space thousands of light years away from Earth. Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and we think it still is. Each of us is assigned to writing for a character's point of view in a round robin story. We write for the character and we write as the character. The result? We ARE our characters. We are forever destined to be THE SPACE CASES.  
  
We will follow a few guidelines, namely:  
  
We stick to a developing plot. We won't be too random with our entries (unless, of course, Thelma's POV is written).  
  
We will stay true to the series. This is not a place for slash writing, since a Y7 TV show would never allow it, so don't expect us to write it. But innuendoes are ok by us. God knows there were many in the ep Truth Hurts.  
  
We won't erase or change anything another person has written. So chapters won't randomly change and confuse people. Each person will stick to writing for their individual character.  
  
So, what IS the plot to this story? We don't have one yet! That's part of the fun. But it will be Y or Y7 in rating, dramatic, suspenseful, yet funny: classic SC.  
  
It has been suggested that Catalina be visible in this series of fic, so we will pretend that Suzee and Cat switched back sometime after the second season, and that is where we will begin writing. This way, it is true to the series, yet Catalina is visible.  
  
So that's what to expect from this fic. We'll see how this goes. Enjoy!  
  
~The Space Cases 


	2. Theresa James Davenport

T.J. Davenport  
  
Written by Mystery Machine  
  
* *  
  
'I touch the future; I teach.'  
  
I remember those words, and I remember why I'm here. I have always wanted to make a difference in the universe, and leave it better off than when I arrived. I have never had the intention of perfecting it, mind you; there is always room for improvement. I suppose I have always wanted to teach. I have most certainly always wanted to learn. It only made sense to pass my knowledge onto others. It seemed as though that was what I was meant to do with my life. I became a teacher, like my father, and then received a promotion to the position of Assistant Principal, in the most prestigious school in the galaxy no less.  
  
Yes, I was born to improve the future. I think of all I have taught and all I can teach young people to help their minds grow and expand their horizons.  
  
And then I look at the Space Cases.  
  
They're space cases. They're misfits. And I'm stuck on this Godforsaken ship with the lot of them for seven years, four months, and twenty-two days of my life.  
  
Shoot me now, and get it over with. I recall this statement slipping from my mouth once, toward the beginning of our journey.  
  
Although I suppose it could be worse. These kids are not delinquents; they are merely misguided. We all have our quirks and pet peeves. It just seems that this crew has more quirks than what is considered normal.  
  
On this ship we have an optimist, a pessimist, a know-it-all leader, a hesitant follower, and a dreamer with an invisible (and rather cocky) friend.  
  
And then there's me. I like to think of myself as the intelligent, orderly one of the bunch. Without me this crew would certainly go to hell in a hand basket...especially with the commander's irrational love for risk taking.  
  
And to think, he's supposed to be the one guiding us home.  
  
When the commander was stuck in the healing chamber, I couldn't bear the thought of being solely responsible for getting these kids home safely. How Seth gets the students to follow orders is beyond me. I admire the commander very much for his ability to guide the students. Of course I'd never actually admit that to anyone.  
  
I look up from my CompuPad at the students in my classroom. They are supposed to be studying.  
  
Instead, Bova is sleeping, Rosie is drawing, Catalina and Harlan are arguing about Command Post duties, and Radu is attempting to mediate the fight.  
  
What is a teacher to do?  
  
I've tried being forceful, being strict...  
  
'How about being nice?'  
  
I still remember the day Radu suggested that. It was a brash move on his part. He's usually the peacemaker of the group, and instead he tried to challenge my authority. I must admit I was quite taken aback.  
  
I wouldn't mind being nice, if they gave me reason to be.  
  
Yet the pranks have only continued. So far they've remixed the atmosphere of my quarters with helium, glued me to my chair, put itching powder in my uniform, glued my mouth shut, and tricked me into thinking the commander had been ripped to shreds. And these are only some of their attempts at being creative. I must wonder what else they've got up their sleeves. I wish they'd use their resourceful thinking for good once in a while.  
  
And they wonder why I am always so skeptical and cautious. We have been lucky so far and managed to get us through some difficult situations. But they still refuse to listen to my advice or pay attention in class. If I can't trust them to be mature and responsible in the classroom, how am I supposed to trust them with my life?  
  
I have reason to believe the ship likes to play tricks as well. I'm beginning to think she laughs with the students. The jumptubes spit me out at the incorrect destination, the Food Wheel never gives me the proper food, Thelma always seems to malfunction at the worst possible time...the list goes on. But the biggest joke of all is how the commander and I are unable to control the ship.  
  
How am I supposed to trust this crew with my life?  
  
'I touch the future; I teach.'  
  
Ironic that the person for whom the ship is named is the same person I quote so often. Christa is the source of my motivation and my aggravation.  
  
"Attention, Team. This is Commander Goddard," Seth's voice echoes throughout the ship. "Report to the Command Post immediately. I repeat, report to the Command Post immediately. All hands on deck."  
  
"To the ComPost!" Harlan announces, using his favorite name for the room. I swear, the commander even slips and uses Harlan's childish abbreviation once in a while.  
  
"Honestly, what now?" I wonder, letting out a frustrated sigh.  
  
The students leap from their seats and rush to the jumptubes. I follow suit, shouting after them about an exceptional education being essential to our survival, but no one seems to pay me any mind. 


	3. Catalina

Catalina—

By SilvyrWing

Notes: No one seemed to object to me adding the next chapter. Lemme know if there's a problem. 3

***

            I don't usually dream.

But there was this one time that I _had _a dream. I wanted to really go places, and to be known, and liked, and successful. A talented Saturnian could really make a name for herself, after all.

Instead, I ended up at Starcademy, and I went places, alright. Thousands of lightyears across the galaxy, to be exact.

Though it certainly wasn't my choice, the Christa has really come to be more like a home for me than any place I've ever lived. My family is interesting enough here... _They _acknowledge my talents, unlike my actual relatives ever did. And, like a family, we had both love and rivalry shared between us… Though sometimes I think the "rivalry" part lies entirely in Harlan's head, because he's the one that seems to argue with everyone. I mean, pul-_ease! _Someone as anti-charismatic as _him _should not be our leader, as unofficial as the title is. Someone like me, though… If I could just get a real chance at Helm…

"You'd mess it up. I know you would," Harlan was saying. I rolled my eyes, and he smirked in that ever-confident manner of his. That way that I hated and loved all at the same time, because even though it meant he was a real egomaniac, it meant that he could see me. That I was on the ship, and tangible, and that Suzee was back in her dimension. He'd smirked at Suzee like that once in a while, too, I remembered.

"Oh, he is _so _full of it," she said to me, in a voice that only I could hear.

"Suzee thinks you're full of it," I repeated, for her sake. "And for the record, Harlan Band, I do, too." 

He was about to answer, but that was when the announcement came over the intercom. It was the Commander! Then again, who else would it be? The rest of us were cooped up down here in class, and Thelma, to my knowledge, never used the com. No; she'd rather just appear out of nowhere, and usually right when she was needed. Once, I'd called Thelma a friend, and I definitely meant it. She was interesting, and odd, though for a machine (Or _part-_machine), she was surprisingly real.

Miss Davenport was shouting after us as we leapt into the jumptubes, but I was busy trying to listen to what Harlan was shouting in front of me. Grozit, he made me mad! Before I could respond, though, Rosie and Bova jumped in ahead of me, and while I really _do _value Miss Davenport's wisdom, I really didn't want to be stuck in the same room with her, alone, when there was Command post duty at stake. And… The Helm. I'd get my turn, one way or the other.

***

Traveling the jumptubes was tricky at times. One really didn't know with any degree of certainty where they'd end up. Even though we'd all set the exact same course, and entered within seconds of each other, there was still that chance that we'd end up somewhere totally opposite from where we wanted to be. The cargo hold, or the bunkrooms, perhaps… It had happened before. I had memorized the path from the classroom to the ComPost before, as it really wasn't all that complicated. A right turn here, and a left there. Through that glowing junction and into the unlit segment that bridged right over the connection to the galley. Despite the complexity of the network, we'd never actually seen a lot of the ship – or so some of us liked to imagine - Harlan and I, especially. We'd seen that map of the Sister Ship's jumptube network, and both of us were convinced in some way that there was a lot more to the Christa than we knew. After I got stuck in Yensid, though, and after the Christa crash-landed, there hadn't been any time to explore.

Well, now there was.

"I wonder if we'll ever find out," I mused to myself, resting my arms behind my head as I raced through the jumptube faster than I liked to think about. 

One thing about being aboard a sentient ship. You _never _mused about anything. 

…Because the Christa had a very interesting sense of humor and timing. 

Suddenly, I found myself wrenched off the normal course, so quickly that I smacked my head on the junction between the tube I was in and the tube into which the Christa had transferred me. It wasn't too hard, as the tubes had a bit of an air cushion to prevent injuries such as that, but the shock of it was more what had me reeling. Craning my neck, I could see Bova just ahead of me, and Miss Davenport just behind. I wondered if anyone else was coming along on the ride… I suspected we'd end up in the airlock or something, or the power junction. Then, we'd likely just walk the remaining distance to the ComPost.

Then, Suddenly, I went flying.

After landing with a thud and rolling about a foot across the floor, I uttered a surprised "Oof," before attempting to regain my bearings. I felt a boot contact my side, and turned my eyes up to see Bova, who was already on his feet. He looked down at me, and I couldn't tell if his expression was confused or simply passive.

"I'd move," he said.

The scream echoed through the hall – a ghostly sound. I had absolutely no time to react before the jumptube spit Miss Davenport out at me. She and I collided, and the shock sent Bova back to the floor much more quickly that he probably appreciated. There was no sound for about two seconds, and then all three of us simultaneously groaned.

"We've _got _to get back to the Command Post," Miss Davenport said. She struggled to her feet, which involved stepping unceremoniously all over my hair. That hurt.

My head was still throbbing from its unexpected contact with the junction. I wondered if I'd maybe smacked it harder than I thought… There was already a bit of a bump there. Maybe I'd just hit it the right way, though I couldn't exactly be certain, especially since I was still dizzy from the initial course change. Resting for a moment on my knees, I finally pushed off the floor to get to my feet. Miss Davenport was standing not too far away, and was staring at the jumptube we'd just exited, so I approached and stood next to her. Likely, she was just waiting for Bova and I, so she could shepherd us back to ComPost.

Then it registered what she was staring at… There was no entrance tube. Just an exit tube. Just the tube we'd left.

"Great. I suppose we'll just be stuck down here for the rest of the ride home. Wonderful!"

That, of course, was Bova.

"What if you crawled back up the tube?" Suzee asked.

"We could be anywhere, Suzee," I responded. Bova and Miss Davenport barely even reacted. It was sort of odd that they knew she was real now. No one even batted an eye when we spoke… Sometimes, I missed the attention. Sometimes. But it was also nice not to be thought of as the Christa's resident nutbar.

"What'd she say?" Miss Davenport asked.

"She just suggested we shut off the network from there…" I pointed to the control unit. "…And crawl up the tubes. But we don't know where we are, or how to get back."

"Maybe we can look for an entrance tube down here somewhere," Bova suggested. And there's a com unit right over there. We can contact the others in the Command Post…" 

There was an echo from the exit tube that sounded remarkably like voices. In fact, if I listened hard enough, there were four of them… Rosie, Harlan, Radu, and Commander Goddard… And we were all standing right in front of their exit. Tugging on Miss Davenport's and Bova's sleeves, I pulled them out of the way just as Harlan went tumbling across the floor, followed by the others.

Harlan threw out a couple choice expletives. I helped him up. "What are you _doing_ down here?" I demanded. "How are we gonna get out of here if we don't even—" 

He held up his hand, smiling that hated smirk again. "Why not just take the…" When he turned, he noticed the same thing _we all had. There was no entrance tube._

"Now," Davenport said. "The question is, as Catalina put it, 'what are you _doing _down here?'"

"When you didn't show up in the command post, we decided to come looking for you," stated the commander. "Rosie here thinks she saw Bova head off in a different direction from the rest of you, so we asked Thelma about it. She… told us she could send the rest of us after you, so I assigned her to keep watch at Helm."

"Great," I said. "At least Thelma gets to…"

"Not now, Cat," Commander Goddard said. I pouted, but stopped talking. Harlan smirked at me again… I almost hit him.

"I'll call Thelma on the com," the commander volunteered. He fumbled with it for a little while. "Maybe I can ask her where we are." Flipping a switch, he spoke into it concisely, clearly. "Thelma?"

"Yes, Commander," she said, as she appeared in the hallway directly behind him. No one had even seen her approach!

Thelma had this interesting ability to be anywhere she needed to be without even a moment's notice. Once she was called, she would simply appear, as if my magic. No one really knew how, though we were all torn between appreciating it and being seriously freaked out by it. We knew she didn't use the jumptubes… So we had no leads as to how she could get from one end of the ship to the other in seconds. 

"_Great,_" Goddard said. I could see a vein throbbing in his temple… "Now we're ALL down here!" In response, Thelma smiled.

"So… Where _is _here?" Rosie wondered, heading off down the hall a little ways. I hadn't noticed, but Radu was already well on his way. He turned as Rosie started following him, and said, almost too quietly for us to hear… "…Do you hear _birds _chirping?"

"I smell ozone, too," Bova added, also starting down the hallway. I couldn't help it; I followed. Suzee commented on the fact that she could detect something other than the re-processed Starship air, though how she could tell across dimensions was beyond me. Perhaps it was the fact that she seemed to be made up of air here. I could see right through her.

"Airhead," I muttered. She swatted at me. Her hand went through my shoulder.

"Why was it that you wanted us at the Command Post, Commander?" Miss Davenport asked. Goddard's face seemed to turn about fifty degrees paler than it already was.

"A major solar flare," he said softly. "From the sun we're flying by… The Command Post is the only place I know of that's shielded from the radiation it could create… I mean… As far as I know. There's always the possibility that…"

"_That we could all be dead in minutes," _Bova spat.

"DEAD?!" 

Miss Davenport, of course. I rolled my eyes. The Christa had protected us before, and she'd do so again. I was sure about that. Besides, we were already on our way toward whatever it was that Radu and Bova had detected. As much as I didn't want to be dead, I wanted to find out what the Christa was showing us even more.

"Look," I said. "We've been through solar flare radiation before, and Suzee thinks that the magnetic field around the ship is more than enough to protect us." It would be better if we could jump to hyperdrive, of course, but we'd have to take what we could get, that this point. "I mean, if…"

I froze. Ahead of me was perhaps the singular most wonderful thing I'd ever seen.

A huge expanse, covered in grass and trees and water, with strange, alien birds floating from tree-to-tree. It was domed, though there was no sky above… Only an artificial light that seemed to serve as a sun. It caused me to forget about outer space, and solar radiation, and the Christa… It was so beautiful. There was no possible way this could be a starship. No way. 

I couldn't help it… I wandered further in. Miss Davenport held out a hand to stop me, but I shrugged it off. It didn't matter anyway, because they all followed. Suddenly, a high-pitched whine started emitting from the portal that led into the dome… It was loud, and painful, even to me. Radu fell to his knees as he scrambled to get away, and the others were falling over themselves in a rather blind panic. Thankfully, I only had to take a few more steps in order to escape the sound… It was almost like a field that surrounded the door. Once the others were out of that range, and in the same general area I was, they, too, relaxed. For a moment, we looked at each other, then attempted to approach the door again.

We were accosted by the high-pitched whine, which drove all of us back again. And not only that, but I felt a distinct feeling of dread well up inside me. It was a feeling that we were safe in the dome. Anywhere else was dangerous. Even Thelma seemed unable to get past the field.

Like animals, we were trapped.


	4. Bova

Bova--  
  
By Lokaia  
  
Notes:: Gee, I just remembered why I hate Round Robins...  
  
------  
  
"We're all going to die."  
  
I don't care what anyone else tells you, that is *not* my catchphrase. Ms. Davenport says it more than I do. Just because I believe it...  
  
But *come on*. Can you honestly blame me? I mean, we've stranded ourselves on a ship *seven years* from home, been attacked by *Spung*, crash-landed onto some unidentified planet, put our commander in *traction*...  
  
I could go on.  
  
You know I could.  
  
But at this particular moment, I sort of forget that we're all going to die.  
  
I'm standing in this dome, this dome that defies every principle of physics, logic, and basic *architecture* just by existing. It's huge and green and lush and beautiful, and I've never seen anything like it.  
  
That's why it's not much of a surprise when we try to leave and almost go deaf.  
  
I leapt backwards, bumping into at least two of my crewmates before finally escaping the high-pitched whine. Breathing heavily, I found myself lying on the ground, along with almost everyone else. Glancing around at each other, my crewmates attempted to approach the door again.  
  
Because, you know, if it tries to kill us once it wouldn't *possibly* try again.  
  
Idiots.  
  
Once they've all come back to the safe-edge of the dome with me, we all had more time to think. I voiced what they were all thinking. Seems to be my main job on the Christa.  
  
"We're trapped," I informed them.  
  
"Like animals," Cat added in a whisper.  
  
I thought about that for a minute. "Well, not necessarily *animals*. We're kind of trapped in general."  
  
"Bova." Commander Goddard had that tone that said he was currently experiencing a splitting headache. Like it was my fault the Christa had changed the direction of the jump tubes. My fault the ship was heading towards a solar flare. My fault we couldn't escape our little dome-prison.  
  
"Thelma, what--what is this place?" Rosie's voice penetrated my thoughts and I glanced back at Thelma. The android was currently occupying herself by sticking her arm as far out the field of the dome as she could before her head was exposed (i.e., deafness).  
  
Thelma smiled at Rosie in that incredibly vapid, just-in-case-you-thought-I- was-thinking-something-you're-wrong expression of hers. It's a Thelma TM expression.  
  
"It is a dome, Rosie."  
  
Thank you, Captain Obvious.  
  
"What does it *do*, Thelma?" Goddard asked, speaking slowly. Why doesn't anyone else get it? Thelma *understands* us. We just need to be more specific.  
  
For instance, instead of "Thelma, where is Bova?" where you will promptly get the answer of "On the Christa", you should ask, "Thelma, where on the Christa is Bova?" and she will answer "Bova is in the galley".  
  
...That reminds me. I'm so hungry. It's been an hour since lunch. We're going to starve down here.  
  
"The dome provides recreation for the Christa's crew, Commander," Thelma replies, smiling.  
  
Harlan, who had been exploring the dome, rejoined our little group, frowning. "Why haven't you told us about this before?"  
  
Are you ready? Say it with the android, folks...  
  
"Because you did not ask."  
  
Congratulations. You win the "You've Paid Attention for the Last Three Years" award.  
  
"Why can't we leave it?" Cat asks with a hint of fear in her tone.  
  
By "hint" I mean "ton" and by "fear" I mean "bone-shattering terror".  
  
But really, can you blame her?  
  
"The Christa needs to protect her crew," Thelma was saying. "The solar flare's radiation would severely harm you if you were in the jumptubes, so the Christa is keeping you here."  
  
Everyone seemed incredibly relieved. And, not that I like my job here, but aren't I the voice of realism?  
  
"Thelma? How long is she planning on keeping us here?"  
  
"Until the danger is gone," the android replies.  
  
"How long is that going to be?" The Commander's tone is skeptical, meaning he's just caught on to what I figured out ten minutes ago.  
  
Thelma smiles, of course. "I do not know, Commander. The Christa has severed all links to the dome. They must be reconnected before we are able to leave."  
  
"Well, how do we reconnect them?" Cat asks excitedly. It's the whole engineering genius thing at work. She's always excited when anything electrical happens.  
  
You'd think it'd be me, but I guess when you're your own generator, electricity gets boring after a while.  
  
Thelma cocks her head at the Saturnian, processing her question. "To reconnect the links, you must go to the control room."  
  
"The control room," Ms. Davenport repeats. "And where exactly is the control room?"  
  
Thelma turned and pointed.  
  
The others gasped and groaned.  
  
The android's hand pointed very obviously to the doorway beyond the dome.  
  
Cue my trademark.  
  
"I knew it." 


	5. Seth Goddard

Commander Goddard  
  
By: Princess Amanda  
  
Notes: I probably should have gone first...  
  
------  
  
How do we get ourselves into these situations?  
  
The Christa decided to protect us and so trapped us in this dome. That's understandible enough. I guess.  
  
I wish I knew how this ship worked. We could learn new technologies, we could get home faster...  
  
We could not be trapped in a dome...  
  
"How do you we suppose we get out of this, Commander?" Miss Davenport asked.  
  
There is a downfall to being a commander. Like people assuming you always have a plan. And I do always have a plan.  
  
Sort of.  
  
"I'm working on a plan. There's just a problem with it," I said.  
  
"It doesn't exist," Bova said.  
  
Why does he have to do that?  
  
"Mr. Bova, my plan exists," I told him. Which it did. The plan was getting to the control room.  
  
I just didn't know how to do it.  
  
"We're going to die. We're all going to die!"  
  
Why does T.J. always have to say that?  
  
"We're not going to die," I told her. Not that a part of me doesn't think it's true. But I do have to keep my crew from falling apart.  
  
"Yeah," Radu said, standing up for me. "If Commander Goddard says he has a plan, he has a plan. We'll get out of this okay." Then he turned straight to me. "Won't we, Commander?"  
  
This just isn't my day.  
  
"Uh, sure." Okay, I know it didn't sound convincing, but what was I going to say? "I have no clue how to get out of here, and Miss Davenport's right, we're all going to die."  
  
If that doesn't raise crew morale...  
  
"See? Commander Goddard says we'll be okay! I know we will!" Rosie said.  
  
At that second, I want to thank Rosie for saving my butt. No one wants to burst the Mercurian's bubble.  
  
But back to the problem at hand.  
  
The plan: Getting to the control room.  
  
It looks so good on paper.  
  
If we leave...we'll probably die. Mr. Bova, please get out of my head.  
  
"Why don't we charge it?" Harlan asks.  
  
What goes on in his mind? "It's too dangerous, Mr. Band."  
  
He's going to try it anyway, isn't he?  
  
Of course. One day, he'll listen to a command.  
  
Catalina calls out his name as he tries to charge his way out of the dome, but he of course falls backwards onto the ground.  
  
I am in charge. I can not laugh. That was pretty funny, though. And he can't say I didn't warn him.  
  
"Are you all right, Mr. Band?"  
  
"Uh, yeah," he answered, dazed. Then he noticed Catalina trying to hide her smile. Like I said, it was pretty funny. "Real mature, Rainbow Head."  
  
"Mr. Band," I said in a warning voice.  
  
At least now I know we can't charge our way out.  
  
Maybe getting out of here is a bit harder than I thought...  
  
A shiver runs down my spine. A shiver? "Is it getting cold in here?"  
  
"I thought it was, but I thought it was only me!" Rosie said.  
  
"The temprature in the dome is decreasing," Thelma confirmed.  
  
"Now we're going to freeze, too," Bova complained.  
  
Once again, why does he have do that? "Thelma, why is the temprature decreasing?"  
  
I remembered the communication links when Thelma said, "I do not know, Commander."  
  
She has to have some idea...  
  
"Do you have any ideas, Thelma?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
That was helpful.  
  
"Would you care to share them?"  
  
Thelma smiled. "Of course. I believe it is just a simple malfunction."  
  
Okay, new plan. Get to the control room so we can get out, and fix the malfunction so we don't freeze.  
  
Now...if only I knew how to do it. 


	6. Harlan Band

            Harlan Band

            By SilvyrWing

Man, this so totally sucked. The odds were stacked against us… I mean, we were lost _inside _the ship _in which _we were lost in space. How much worse could it get than that?

            Of course, I like it this way… It really gives me a chance to shine as the leader of this group of cadets. They don't know that being a leader is a lot more than just fun and games. It's about adventure and glory, too.

            And self-sacrifice, and selflessness, and all that, I guess. 

And pain… talk about _ouch. _Running into that barrier wasn't exactly my idea of that "fun and games" part that went along with being a leader, but at least we knew that we weren't going _that _way! And that's what I'd meant to do anyway… You know. Just test it. See if there was some way we could get through.

Catalina laughed at me.

"Real mature, Rainbow Head," I said, standing again. She of everyone would be terrible at Helm… I mean, she daydreamed all the time, if she wasn't busy talking to Suzee. If she was in charge, we'd have crashed into a planet a long time ago. And yes, I'm choosing to forget that time we crashed into a planet. That wasn't my fault.

They went on talking, but my head was still reeling from my previous contact with the sound-barrier-thing preventing us from getting out. Theoretically, it would let us out when the danger of the solar flare had passed. Some supernova flares could get pretty bad, and depending on how far away from the star we were, we could be here a while. It really depended on a lot of factors, but those were all things I really never learned. I suppose it really would have been a good idea to pay attention in class once in a while… But then, seriously, when would I catch up on my sleep? Jeez, you couldn't do everything, after all! And I'd rather meet up with a dozen Spung with both hands tied behind my back than attempt to learn while I was sleeping; one thing I didn't want was to wake up with my head nineteen times its normal size. Not only would my head be really heavy, but I guess all my hair would fall out…

Hm.

"Hey, guys. Is it getting cold in here?" I wondered.

"…What do you think we've been talking about for the last ten minutes?" Bova returned.

"I believe it is a malfunction in the controls," Thelma supplied helpfully, smiling. 

"So we need to get to the control room to fix things, I guess. Right? Thelma, do you have any ideas?"

I don't know why Commander Goddard rolled his eyes at me. It wasn't like all this had already been said.

"Yes," Thelma replied.

"Well, I think we should go exploring." Finally calming down the ringing in my ears, I approached the commander and Miss Davenport. "You know… Maybe there's some way to get around to the Control Room from here!"

Catalina rolled her eyes at me, too. "Forget it, Harlan. Suzee says this dome could be huge. And I think it's a bad idea. We should stay close to the door… That way, if it cools off in here, we can still get the heat from out in the corridor."

I shook my head. "Tch. We're on a Starship. How big could this dome be?"

"It _could _be exactly the size of one entire deck, plus part of another," Thelma supplied cheerfully.

"…So, how big is it?" I ventured. Thelma's smile grew.

"It is exactly the size of one entire deck, plus part of another." She pointed up toward the grey-blue veined wall. There was a red seam that ran through it a few hundred feet up, signaling the end of one deck and the beginning of another. My eyes followed it around, noting for the first time that eventually the wall disappeared into mists generated by the internal systems of the dome… It was so big, I couldn't see all the way around.

"Well, what if we just stayed here until the Christa lets us out?" Rosie asked.

Bova shrugged. "We could. But it could also take twenty-four hours for the radiation from the solar flare to diminish to what the Christa considers a safe level. By then, we could be frozen to death. Or—"

"…That's enough, Mister Bova," Commander Goddared sighed, exasperated. 

Shaking my head, and once more tuning out the conversation, I tried squinting my eyes in an attempt to see the other side. If I looked hard enough, I could see something… "Hey, Thelma." I pointed up at a narrow steel ledge just above the split between decks. "What's that?"

"Oh, that is a walkway, Harlan. It leads out into Deck KD. It is an observation walkway for the crew, wishing to look down into this beautiful dome. Mm. The… jumptube leading into it is mainly for maintenance within the dome itself. Most of the Lumanians would stand up there."

"…So they didn't come down here?" Miss Davenport asked. "I thought you said this was for the crew's recreation!"

"I did!" Thelma said. "Zoos are recreational parks, are they not?"

For a long time, no one spoke. 

"…We _are _trapped like animals," Catalina said again.

"Are you telling me that there are dangerous animals in here?" Miss Davenport asked. I could hear the edge of panic growing in her voice.

Thelma's head tilted, her blue eyes shallowly watching the instructor. "No," she answered.

"Oh, thank the _heavens," _Miss Davenport sighed. I thought she was going to faint from sheer relief. Thelma, however, was not finished…

"…I was telling you that the walkway was an observation deck for The Christa's former crew. Now I am telling you that there are dangerous animals in here. Miss Davenport, there are dangerous animals in here."

She sat down very quickly, but to her credit, she did not faint.

"…Or, we could get eaten by dangerous animals!" Bova finished his previous statement, almost triumphantly.

"We have to get up to that observation deck," Radu said. Blinking, I turned to him. It had been the first time I'd heard him really speak since we'd gotten ourselves into this mess. I swear, sometimes he was so quiet, I didn't even know he was around. It was kinda weird… At one time, I was afraid of him. I mean, I really, _really _hated him. Now… Well, I'd say we were friends, but not to his face. There really wasn't anyone I'd rather have at my back in a fight, though. Or if I was lost… Because that boy _seriously _knew directions.

"It is impossible to reach the deck from here," Thelma said, her voice flat and merely informative. "The Lumanians designed it that way so that the animals kept here would not escape."

"Lucky us," I muttered, turning to Catalina. "Any bright ideas? What does Suzee think?"

Cat shrugged. "Going exploring might be beneficial, but Suzee thinks that…"

I waved her off. "Alright, then! Let's go!"

Catalina pressed on, even though I _thought _I'd made it clear that I'd already heard the part of her statement that I wanted to hear. "_But Suzee thinks _that you should take someone with you to collect some samples. I mean, this is a treasure trove of… of…"

"…What?" I asked. "Cat got your tongue?"

It was funny. I don't know why they didn't laugh.

"Take Rosie with you," Commander Goddard finally said. He must have seen my surprise… It probably wasn't hard not to, since my jaw practically dropped to the grassy floor. Therefore, he offered a rather vague explanation for his choice. "She likes this kind of stuff. I'm sure she'll find something interesting."

"Or get eaten by a Montrelizian Bugbear," Bova mused.

"Oh, don't worry about me. We'll have fun, won't we Harlan? Radu?" Rosie excitedly wrapped her arm around mine, before reaching over to grab Radu's.

Radu looked just about as uncomfortable with this as I was. How could we look for a way out of the dome and babysit Rosie at the same time? I mean, the kid had potential, sure! But she was so young! Radu was _technically _younger than she and Bova, but at least he looked like he was older. These two looked like they still shopped in the kids' section of the department store.

"We'd better get going before it gets too cold," Radu finally said. I suppose I had to agree with him… taking a last look back at the blocked doorway, I shrugged, heading off into the forest with an Andromedan and a Mercurian in tow. 

"This is insane," I muttered almost silently.

Radu turned to me. "You're telling me…"

I'd forgotten how good Andromedan hearing was.

***

A half hour later, we were sitting near the bank of the dome's artificial river, watching really weird fish swim by in the water below us. It was definitely getting colder… Radu and I had taken off our uniform jackets and offered them to Rosie as a buffer against the chill… She pretty much now resembled a pink-faced teddy bear. So far, though, she'd collected some pretty neat-looking flora… And we were still working on catching one of those fish in the water below. I don't know why she wanted a fish… Perhaps it was the luminescent scales. Maybe Rosie thought they were pretty.

That's why I was training my hand through the rapidly cooling water, attempting to catch a fish without any sort of line. As the water got colder, the fish got slower, but they were still just a little to fast to catch. With my skills, I should have been able to get one easily, but every time I struck, it was almost as if the fish teleported out of the way.

Maybe they did.

Rosie was sitting on a rock, rubbing her arms and glowing a faintly pink color – conserving energy, likely. Or attempting to raise her own body heat. The air directly around her was slightly warm, so I did my best not to brush up against her… Burning my hand wasn't on my list of things to do today.

Then again, neither was fishing, or getting lost in a dome.

"…Hey. Look at that…" Radu was looking at a point somewhere in the stream, his eyes narrowed. Following his gaze, I could see exactly what he was concerned about… There was a heavy white steam being belched forth from the river. My first thought was that it was poison.

"Rosie…! Get down!" I leapt at her, pinning her to the ground by the bank of the river. It seemed like the right thing to do. Pinning someone to the ground was always the answer! It covered such topics as explosions, flying shrapnel, evil agents searching for you through an abandoned warehouse, visiting relatives…

…Not poison, though. 

"Harlan, get _off._" Rosie's tone carried a slight chuckle to it, but I could tell she was a little annoyed. I rolled off, nearly landing myself in the river. Except that I should have been _in _the river… Looking down, I could see that I was sitting on ice.

"Wow. That was fast," I observed.

"Look," Rosie said, nodding toward the white steam. It was floating upwards toward the dome's curved ceiling.

"Clouds," I said. Their release had also frozen the river. "…Did you want a fish? I think I can get one now.

"…That's alright. We haven't found a way out of the dome yet, and it's getting colder." She shivered again. The jackets weren't really providing any shielding from the chill.

"I think we should get back to the others," Radu said.

Shaking my head, I returned, "We haven't discovered anything yet. Why would we go back?"

"Readjustment of my internal atmosphere. It's about to snow. And it's about to snow a lot." He looked up into the artificial sky. The white clouds that had been released from the vents in the river _were _turning a rather threatening shade of grey.

"…Alright. But we're gonna go out again. We're gonna have to. To get to that walkway."

"Well, maybe Suzee and Cat have figured something out," Rosie said helpfully.

Radu and I kept her between us as we walked, hopefully to try to keep some of her heat in. It seemed to work a little, though when the first snowflakes started falling, Rosie began to shiver all over again. It was amazing… The temperature in here had decreased at least twenty degrees within the hour we'd been here. Maybe we'd get lucky and it would rise again, though knowing our luck, it would continue to fall. That was okay, though. More opportunities for me to shine.

Why was I so worried, then?

"Oh, look!" Rosie suddenly darted out from between Radu and I, and kneeled next to what appeared to be an small, unconscious bird-like creature. It had two legs – one of which was folded under it at a very odd angle – and two scaled arms. There were feathered wings on its back, too… It looked like it had spread them around itself just before it passed out to try to warm itself… And by the looks of things, it hadn't worked very well. The thing looked like a really small Gryffon from earth mythology… And it also had teeth.

"…Remember what Thelma said about dangerous animals," Radu said as the Mercurian scooped the creature into her arms. The fact was, she looked warmer when she was worried about something other than the cold.

"It's so cold, though! And look… He's hurt!"

"And the commander _did _say he wanted her to collect samples for study." This was a bad idea, my mind said. But Rosie was so happy. Caring for the creature might save _her._ History couldn't repeat itself a third time, could it? I mean, after all the trouble we'd had with Rhomby, and Eaty… This thing couldn't possibly be that bad.

It chittered in its slumber, tucking a sharp beak under Rosie's chin to seek out her warmth.

"…Alright," Radu said. Puh. As if _he _had the final say.

"So. Back to camp?" What camp? Well, they'd have probably set up something by now. Tents. A campfire. Didn't matter that we didn't _have _any of those things at hand. I mean, who travels down a jumptube with a tent in tow? None of us expected to get stuck in Lumanian Nature Land. But hey, as Thelma said, almost anything was possible.

I looked at the creature nestled close to Rosie… It was possible that history _would _repeat itself.

"Let's go," Radu said. "I hear 'em. We're not too far now."

Everything would be fine. And if something went wrong, well, Harlan Band was there to get them out of trouble.

Now. If only trouble would stop finding _me._


End file.
